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Camlink AA Ni-Mh Rechargeable Batteries 1300mAh

A few years ago I was running rather low on rechargeable batteries and after seeing the price of them in my local Tesco I decided to take to eBay and see what was on offer there. To my amazement I found someone in China selling an unopened pack of 4 Camlink AA Ni-Mh 1300mAh Rechargeable Batteries (which is a bit of a mouthful to both say and type so from now on I will refer to them as 'the batteries') for just £2.95 with free postage! Even though I had my doubts on the quality of this battery I still considered this a bargain and for just under £3 it was worth a try so I ordered them. Coming from China they took around 10 days to arrive but this was fine as I was in no rush.

Camlink AA Ni-Mh Rechargeable BatteriesFirstly, I am not very 'tech minded' in the sense of knowing the detailed specs of things, not that I think there are too many with a battery, but I may be wrong! So I will be reviewing these batteries from a 'me' point of view and detail to you the parts that I do understand and make regular use of.

The batteries arrived in shrink wrap packaging which contained virtually no product information on it. They are a silvery grey colour and the look of the batteries is pretty basic with most of the battery being taken up with the brand name 'Camlink' in large black letters. The battery also contains quite a bit of small print about where the batteries were made, safety instructions and also information about the size of the battery.

Now as I said earlier, I'm not too tech minded, but these batteries are 1300mAh which I do know has something to do with the amount of charge they can hold and the higher this number is then the more powerful the battery is. At the time of ordering my batteries the eBay seller also had 900mAh and 2600mAh batteries on sale, I chose these 1300mAh because it was roughly in the middle of the 3 sizes available and they were also stronger than the rechargeable batteries I already owned.

ChargingWhen I first got the batteries they were not charged, which was fine as I expected this. However, due to them coming with virtually no packaging I found myself with no information about how long the first charge should be so I decided to give them a full 24 hours on charge before I used them. I charge my batteries using an Energizer charger which plugs directly into the mains plug socket and so far I've never had any problems.

After the initial long first charge I find that the batteries are fully charged within approximately 5 hours. I know this as my charger has a little light that changes colour when they are fully charged.

Camlink Batteries in UseMy main use for my Camlink batteries has been in my digital camera, but they have also had a fair bit of use in the Wii Remotes and my dancing iDog ipod speaker.

The batteries have the usual flat base at the negative end and the raised bump at the top positive end. The instructions on the batteries state that you shouldn't mix rechargeable batteries with non-chargeable and also that you shouldn't mix part and fully charged batteries.

The main use for my batteries has been in both my Fujifilm camera and more recently my Samsung camera. The batteries obviously insert into the battery compartment as any normal battery would. Once they are in I personally tend to forget about them until they need charging. While using the batteries in my camera's I have found the power given between charges to be reasonably long lasting with the capability of taking around 80 to 100 photos before needing to be charged again. This is when I have been using the LCD screen on the camera for both taking photos and viewing them as well. I stopped using the Camlink batteries in my camera when 'Santa' brought me some extra powerful Energizer ones in December 2011.

On the occasion that I have used the batteries in the Wii remotes I have found them to be great and last easily over a week. I think this is great as I tend to play the Wii in blocks of around 3 to 4 hours about 3 or 4 times a week and sometimes longer at the weekends.

When I started to use these batteries in my iDog iPod speaker I realised that the power was now starting to fade and the life of the batteries between charges is becoming shorter and shorter. When I use the batteries in my iDog I find that I can usually only get around 2 hours playing time from them and to check this wasn't just because the iDog uses more power I recharged them and put them in my camera and was surprised to see that nowadays even after a full charge the batteries aren't even strong enough to last for 2 photos before dying on me.

LifespanI'm not expert on batteries and how long a rechargeable battery should last and to be honest I think this is probably the longest I have owned rechargeable batteries without managing to loose them. I have owned the batteries since the beginning of 2009 and they have been in pretty much constant use ever since. They have been charged numerous times and very frequently depending on my uses. On some occasions they have been charged daily, for example if I have been using my camera on holidays and on quieter occasions they have only been charged every other week. I think for the price I paid for these batteries and the amount of use I have had out of them they have lasted me well and although I cannot use them in my camera anymore I will keep them and continue their use in my Wii remotes as this seems to be the only thing that they will effectively power up these days!

PriceI bought a packet of 4 Camlink AA batteries on eBay for £2.95 in 2009, which, as I said, I think is a great price. They are still on eBay now starting at a buy it now price of £2.84.

OverallOverall I would recommend these Camlink batteries. For the low price and the amount of use that you will get out of them I think they are great! I usually loose batteries before they die out on me so personally I am quite happy to pay a lower price for something which wont last quite as long as the leading brands!